East Haven's Carfora Joins Mayor's Alliance To End Childhood Hunger

EAST HAVEN, CT —The town's mayor has joined with his counterparts across the nation to help end childhood hunger.

East Haven Mayor Joseph A. Carfora joined the national Mayor's Alliance To End Childhood Hunger, vowing to make a difference in kids lives.

The Mayor’s Alliance to End Childhood Hunger encourages other communities and governments to follow East Haven's lead and join this national effort to ensure no child goes hungry. "Together, we can create a brighter future for our children and our communities," Carfora said.

“A considerable number of students residing in East Haven are unfortunately struggling with food insecurity daily. In an effort to alleviate this issue, the East Haven Food Pantry is requesting assistance from the community in the form of 'Kindness for Kids,'" he said. "By donating nutritious and kid-friendly food items, you can make a significant impact on the lives of students who are in dire need of support. Please consider donating today and help us ensure that no child in East Haven goes hungry.”

East Haven Food Pantry Kind... by Ellyn Santiago

Along with The White House, businesses, non-profit organizations, individuals, and others from across the country, East Haven will implement the National Strategy on Health, Hunger, and Nutrition to address policies and practices that serve to end hunger by 2030. In this effort, the town will create a Task Force that will "bring together the community and city government to create a whole of community approach to addressing issues that will help achieve our goals."

The task force will identify opportunities for local action in alignment with the National Strategy and encourage state and county participation when warranted. In addition, this body will establish a blueprint to end hunger and increase healthy eating and physical activity by 2030 in East Haven, by incorporating a breadth of input from leaders across sectors committed to addressing and achieving these goals. The mayor’s office will provide a structure for the entity and will then recruit members to determine the governing rules by Dec. 31, 2023, with a goal of the first official meeting taking place in the first quarter of 2024.

“Through this task force, information, and techniques will be shared and implemented nationally," Carfora said. "I believe if we are like-minded and moving in the same direction, we can effect positive change.”

By forming a Task Force, with an emphasis on the whole of city government and the whole of community approach to address hunger, health and nutrition in East Haven, Connecticut, we will bring together people with lived experiences and ensure that programs and policies being produced reflect the experiences of these individuals. By purposefully including historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities on the Task Force, we will ensure that these individuals will have a key role in offering realistic solutions that will make a difference. In addition to the inclusion of individuals with lived experience, the newly formed body may also include representatives from city government, local businesses, civic leaders, faith-based leaders, local school districts, food banks, hospitals, colleges and universities, municipal departments, and others from the community.

Carfora is calling on state, local, and the federal government to take concrete action with the Alliance.

"This includes entering into data sharing agreements with universities, think tanks, food retailers, and other entities to provide administrative data about the most effective ways to assist food banks and pantries," he said.

Progress of this body will be measured in phases.

 Phase I: Creation of the body with Chair, Vice-Chair and members selected, mission,
goals and rules created. A key focus will be to ensure that all sectors of the community
are represented.
 Phase II: Suggestions, reports, recommendations prepared and submitted to appropriate
governing bodies.
 Phase III: Success/failure of implementation of recommendations.
 Phase IV: Impact of implementation of recommendations based on data and feedback
from members of the body.